Aviation Security Since the September 11th 2001 attack, aviation security has become a main focal point of national security. Air travel is one of the most frequently used forms of transportation within the United States and is supported by over 400 airports across the country. During this attack, terrorists utilized the weakened state of security in airports to fulfill one of our nation’s most devastating events. Due to these events security measures have increased dramatically over the last ten years to include new technology and security programs to reduce possible terrorist threats from boarding plans. I would like to understand if the correlation between the increased aviation security measures and the deterrence of terrorist utilizing this form of transportation in a terrorist plot. Understanding whether or not aviation security measures are effectively deterring terrorist threats could help shape the future of transportation security within the United States. If effective then some form of these security programs can then be applied to other forms of transportation such as railways or buses. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) states
We use layers of security to ensure the security of the traveling public and the Nation's transportation system that include intelligence gathering and analysis, checking passenger manifests against watch lists, random canine team searches at airports, federal air marshals, federal flight deck officers and more security measures both visible and invisible to the public.
Terrorist threats of every form continue to arise; therefore continually assessing the effectiveness of aviation security is the only way to assure that another event like September 11, 2011 never occurs again.
The hypothesis that is being used for this paper is researching deterrence of aviation security measures is the increase in technological advances, such as full body scanners, prior to boarding a plane help decrease the number of terrorist trying to board a plane. With these new machines, x-ray like capabilities allows TSA employees to identify any hidden items within the human body or within items of clothing. This technology makes it even harder for terrorist to pass through airport security with items hidden in locations unsearchable to the basic search. As implementation of new technology continues to become available in aviation, a decrease in potential threats should be observable.
Federal Air Marshals must operate independently without backup, and rank among those Federal law enforcement officers that hold the highest standard for handgun accuracy. They blend in with passengers and rely on their training, including investigative techniques, criminal terrorist behavior recognition, firearms proficiency, aircraft specific tactics, and close quarters self-defense measures to protect the flying public.
These trained personnel are a valuable deterrent and safety measure for passengers. Deterrent methods range from basic security at airports to technological advances and continue to improve protection for the travelers within the United States. Critics of new aviation security measures address many different forms of the current issues passengers now face when traveling. Recently, new body scanners placed in heavily traveled airports across the United States are being called a violation of privacy. According to a recent investigation done by ABC.news (2010) states “civil liberties groups have criticized the latest expansion, complaining that the machines produce graphic full-body images that invade the privacy of innocent travelers, and they have questioned the necessity, safety, and reliability of the machines”. Additionally, the “No-Fly” list ran by TSA also be plagued with cases of children or elderly be placed on the list for no reasons or promotes racial profiling. Aviation security faces issues that facilitate the debate of security verses privacy and how much someone is willing to give up for the other. Furthermore, CNN (2010) covered a story on the U.S Air Marshal program in which it stated:
Air marshals state the agency is rife with cronyism; age, gender and racial discrimination; and attempts by managers to make the agency appear more efficient than it is by padding numbers. Air marshals describe an agency in chaos, where bored and frustrated marshals focus more on internal squabbles than watching for bad guys. Critics of aviation security continually find problems with technology changes or security policies and rightfully so security program is 100 percent effective. Critics are able to put doubt in the minds of airline travelers that security is overly protectively and nothing is to fear when in reality terrorist threats in aviation continue to be an issue of national security. This would provide an understanding as to the level of deterrence of an airport. Is one airport more secure than another? This could be measured at airports who see the same amount of air travelers from a set time period (let’s say one month). After that time frame the all the information is compiled to understand if people were deterred from bringing dangerous items into the airport. The more sever the item the lower level of deterrence. Second research variable could test the technology being utilized, such items would include: full body scanners, metal detectors, checked baggage screening, and computer assisted passenger screening. The idea is that increase in technology decreases security threats. This could be measured by utilizing a group of people to test each different type of security measure to see how effective they are. If an individual is caught then that piece of technology is deemed effective and if not caught then deemed ineffective means of security. This information could be measured by the attempts tried to caught or not caught (15 attempts 12 were caught). Third variable could then be those individuals caught concealing dangerous items feel out a questionnaire about the airport security measures. This would determine to what level of deterrence in that airport security through an individual’s view of security. These results would be measure by a questionnaire method (does full body scanners deter you from committing a crime 1) agree 2) strongly agree) 3) disagree or 4) other and so on). This would target a specific group of people who are committing crimes by bringing dangerous items to the airport. Sources for this information may include information on instances where items were found on traveling persons, reviews of effectiveness of different types of airport technology, and what groups of people are attempting to travel with dangerous items. Any information about other research conducted on airport security will allow me to compare my understanding to others understanding if similar information.

References
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GAO. (2011). TSA Has Taken Action to Improve Security, but Additional Efforts Remain. Retrieved from: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11807t.pdf

Griffin, D., Johnston, K., Schwarzschild, T. (2010). Air marshals say service roiled with cronyism, chaos. Retrieved from: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-04/us/air.marshals.program_1_federal-air-marshal-service-fams-flights?_s=PM:US
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